This invention relates to toy racing cars and other vehicles. More particularly, the invention relates to toy racing cars, trucks, and motorcycles having improved realism and better play value than prior toy racing equipment.
The prior art shows numerous types of toy and model racing cars, trucks, and motorcycles adapted to run on tracks.
Typically such xe2x80x9cslot carsxe2x80x9d have a guide pin or fin extending downwardly into a groove or xe2x80x9cslotxe2x80x9d formed in the track, which is commonly molded in plastic and provided in sectional, snap-together form. Such slot cars are typically propelled by DC motors driving their rear wheels. The motors are connected to xe2x80x9cpick-up shoesxe2x80x9d that slide along the upper surfaces of conductors disposed on or slightly proud of the track surface, on either side of the groove; the current supplied is varied to control the speed of the slot car. As far as known to the present inventors, any body provided (i.e., to resemble a particular model of car, truck or motorcycle) is normally intended to be fixed to the chassis which carries the motor, guide pin or fin, drive wheels, and pick-up shoes.
One relevant prior art toy race car intended to run on a grooved track is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,159,109 to Braverman.
Braverman shows a toy racing car having a motor comprising an armature mounted between two pole pieces and driving a rear axle of the car through a ring and pinion gearset. The magnets providing the magnetic field necessary for motor operation are confined between the pole pieces. This design appears to correspond generally to that of toy race cars as extensively marketed in approximately xe2x80x9cHOxe2x80x9d scale (i.e. 3.5 mm=1 foot) by Mattel Corporation. However, the Mattel cars are usually intended to run on a track having steel conductors, so that the magnets forming part of the motor, as above, attract the car toward the track surface, providing improved roadholding ability. Braverman suggests (col. 4, lines 55-60) that his conductive rails could be made from aluminum or brass in addition to steel, which would eliminate this feature.
Braverman also teaches that his cars are to be guided along the groove or slot in the track by xe2x80x9can irregularly shaped, vertically oriented platexe2x80x9d which is pivoted vertically with respect to the car, xe2x80x9cto create a skidding effectxe2x80x9d (col. 8, lines 24-39). That is, as the toy racing car traverses a turn it experiences centripetal force. As the outward movement of the front of the car is restrained by the guide plate in the groove, but the rear end of the car""s motion outwardly is not similarly constrained (since as noted the guide plate is pivoted with respect to the chassis), the tail of the car swings outwardly, creating a xe2x80x9cbroadslidingxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9coversteeringxe2x80x9d appearance. The Mattel cars are guided by a generally cylindrical guide pin that is fixed to the chassis and rides in the slot, so that the skidding effect mentioned by Braverman is obtained. As will appear below, certain Mattel components can advantageously be employed in one embodiment of the present invention.
Additional known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 2,866,418 to Petrick, U.S. Pat. No. 2,687,304 to Northrop, U.S. Pat. No. 3,048,124 to Lovell, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,016,024 to Silver, British patent 957,239 to Steedman et al, and French patent 1,344,283 to Lepicard, showing various aspects of toy race cars or other vehicles principally intended to run on tracks. Lovell in particular shows a steering mechanism operated by a xe2x80x9cguide bossxe2x80x9d fitting into a groove in the track so as to xe2x80x9csimulate very realistically the skidding of a full sized vehicle properly handled, such as the xe2x80x98broadslidingxe2x80x99, of a racing car around a turn.xe2x80x9d Col. 1, lines 29-30. Thus the art acknowledges the play value of a toy racing car properly simulating the spectacle of a racing car broadsliding (or xe2x80x9coversteeringxe2x80x9d) through a turn.
The art also recognizes the improved toy value provided to a toy motorcycle adapted to run on a track if it is arranged so that the toy motorcycle leans inwardly in turns, as do full size motorcycles. This is suggested by published British patent specification 2,096,905 to Nagasaki, which discloses such a toy motorcycle incorporating a rather complex linkage including at least two guide pins riding in a groove in the track; as the toy encounters a curve in the track, a forward guide pin is forced out of its prior alignment, and the force thus exerted operates the linkage to lean the toy motorcycle towards the inside of the curve.
It is generally understood that the small size of the popular HO scale toy racing cars, e.g., as sold by Mattel, limits their toy value in several significant ways. One is simply that the small size of the toys makes it harder to see them than is the case with larger models, particularly given their very high speeds. Larger slot cars provide better play value, and of course these have been and are still available. Larger scale cars also provide more surface area for colorful paint schemes, simulating actual race cars that may be marketed as collector""s items, and so forth. However, larger scale cars and their track cost more and take up much more space, and so the HO scale cars retain their popularity. There is also a large xe2x80x9cinstalled basexe2x80x9d of preexisting HO scale track and associated equipment. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide larger cars that could run on existing HO scale track; of course, it would be trivial to make the cars slower, increasing their visibility, but heretofore there has been no suggestion of any way to make them larger and still allow them to run on HO scale track, particularly if they are to be able to overtake one another, as required for realistic racing action.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide toy race cars and other vehicles that are larger than HO scale, yet which run on HO scale track, and allow overtaking.
It is a further object of the invention to provide toy race cars and other four-wheel vehicles that provide a realistic broadsliding or oversteering appearance in turns, and toy motorcycles that provide a realistic leaning action in turns, without requiring complex linkages or steering mechanisms that would involve excessive cost, complexity, and unreliability.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide toy race cars and other vehicles that achieve the above objects while being manufacturable using essentially standard toy car components, to reduce incremental tooling costs.
The Outlaw Powersliders concept of the invention includes several different versions of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, all able to run on standard HO scale slot-car track and using essentially unmodified HO slot car chassis, but allowing much larger bodies to be used, and providing much improved racing action. Four embodiments of such vehicles, each involving somewhat different versions of the concept, are shown in the attached drawings.
The Sprint Car shown in side view by FIG. 1 illustrates the basic concept of the vehicles according to the invention, and FIG. 2, a plan view showing two of the FIG. 1 Sprint Cars rounding a turn, illustrates the improved play value provided thereby. In the preferred embodiments shown in detail herein, components of standard HO slot cars, including the chassis, motor and gear set, pickup shoes, drive wheels, and guide pin, are used as a xe2x80x9csub bodyxe2x80x9d, and standard drive wheels propel the vehicle. Standard HO track can be used as the road surface. A second guide pin riding in the same groove in the track may be employed, to ensure the sub body stays on track. A much larger-scale visible body carrying dummy wheels rotated by drag along the track is attached to the sub body at a vertical pivot axis. As shown in FIG. 2, when the car goes around a turn, the sub body stays on track, but the rear of the visible body swings outwardly, simulating broadsliding or oversteer. Drag from the rear dummy wheels brings the body back into line when the car goes along a straight section of the track. Thus very realistic racing action is provided; car bodies much larger than HO scale can be used, improving the visual effect, while the motion of the vehicles is also very prototypical, and exciting for both driver and spectator.
FIGS. 3 and 4 shows two different embodiments of Monster Truck toy cars, illustrating further variations on the theme of the Sprint Car of FIG. 1. The Monster Truck I of FIG. 3 is functionally similar to the Sprint Car, with variations discussed below. In the Monster Truck II, the vertical pivot between the sub body and visible body is eliminated, as is the second guide pin. Therefore the entire vehicle swings outwardly in turns. The visible rear wheels are mounted on an axle in a slot, so that they do not interfere with the traction of the drive wheels of the sub body, for example, if there are any high spots on the track. The Monster Truck II also allows for a shorter-wheelbase model, since in this case the rear wheels can overlap the sub body.
A Motorcycle according to the invention is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. In the Motorcycle, the front wheel and fork do not pivot with the rider, frame and rear wheel; instead, the front wheel and fork meet the rest of the Motorcycle at a pivot inclined at an angle comparable to the steering-head axis of a conventional motorcycle. In a turn the front wheel of the Motorcycle (typically two thin discs spaced by a bracket fixed to the sub body) and the front fork stay essentially vertical while the frame, rider, and rear wheel are leaned over, just as a power-sliding motorcycle, creating great visual interest.